What happened after the Burke and wills expedition?

Answer 1

After the Burke and Wills expedition, a number of rescue parties were sent out to try and find the missing explorers. William Landsborough and John McKinlay both set out to try and determine the fate of Burke and Wills. Landsborough, travelling by ship to the Gulf of Carpentaria and also doing some overland expeditions, found no sign of the explorers. McKinlay was able to find quite a few traces, including the grave of Charlie Grey, who had died on the return journey from the Gulf. McKinlay is regarded as the uncredited winner of the race to the Gulf and back, because he covered the same ground in his search, and survived, beating even Stuart who was still in the midst of making his fifth attempt to cross to the north and back.

Alfred Howitt was also hired to lead a lightly equipped expedition to find and rescue the party, and he had more luck. Once he ascertained the fate of the party, and found the bodies of Burke and Wills which had both been partially eaten by dingoes, Howitt returned to Melbourne with the Survivor, King. He also found Wills's journals near Wills's body, so a great deal of the expedition became known through these journals. Howitt was then sent back on a better equipped expedition to collect the bodies but was given strict orders that he was not to attempt to complete Burke's original mission. Howitt returned to Melbourne via Adelaide and the bones of Burke and Wills were buried at Royal Park with a State funeral. Ironically, the same day at Burke and Wills were given their State funeral, John McDouall Stuart was riding triumphantly into Adelaide, having made the crossing that would ensure the Overland Telegraph Line would be built between Adelaide (rather than Melbourne) and Port Essington.